Tuesday, June 19, 2012

This day's harvest is why we garden... fresh peas are the best treat ever! I love how you can eat them raw, steam them a little, or freeze them. Fava Beans are easy to shell and toss in the freezer. And garlic is super easy to dry and stores a long time. Our goal this year is to grow enough to store and rather than pig out on everything as we pick it, set some aside for later. We're on our way.

Fava Beans

Shelled Fava Beans

I just keep adding to the freezer bag as more fava bean pods mature.

Shelling Peas

Snow Peas

Sugar Snap Peas

Garlic

Hey, can anyone recommend a good juicer?

Also, has anyone else noticed that brown aphids are in abundance this year?

Monday, June 18, 2012

So, I planted out some eggplants and cucumbers a week or two ago and every night the plants were getting smaller. The nibbling pattern didn't look like slugs or caterpillars, so Terry went out one night to see if it was pill bugs. Well, he saw hundreds of hungry earwigs chomping away on the eggplant, cucumber, and fava bean plants. Every year there is a different pest challenge. This year it's earwigs.

The next day we did a little internet research and made some traps with oil in the bottom. Supposedly the earwigs crawl in and get stuck in the oil. After nightfall we donned our headlamps and went back out to check the traps. Although no earwigs were in the traps yet, we squished tons of them. I'm getting a lot better at squishing bugs- albeit with gloves on. (Sorry no photos of the carnage- earwigs are just too gross to take close up photos of.) We scoped out the rest of the garden and also found earwigs on the potatoes and artichokes. Terry also stomped some giant slugs ((also too gross to photograph)(even sicker is that Bacon likes to chew the slug carcasses once they are dried up)).

In the morning we went back out and saw no earwigs in the traps. I googled around some more and found one suggestion to add soy sauce. So I added a little soy sauce to the traps. The following morning, the traps were not where we left them. They were crunched with puppy dog teeth and left strewn about. Bacon apparently likes the smell of soy sauce. It's back to the drawing board.

Thursday, June 7, 2012

It being early June and the soil is warming up- it is time to plant beans. As a child, I knew beans as the can of salty slimy mushy things promoted by the Jolly Green Giant. I don't remember eating fresh green beans as a child. I think I first considered purchasing fresh beans after watching cooking shows on TV in my late twenties or early thirties. It wasn't until I grew my own that I had that ah-ha, this is what beans should taste like moment.

The term "Beans" encompasses multiple types of plants and hundreds of varieties. According to one of my books, there are over 600 varieties available in the US. I'll focus here on Runner Beans and Green Beans.

Unlike Old World beans like garbanzos and fava beans, Runner Beans and Green Beans are from the New World, Central and South America. There is evidence that Green Beans have been cultivated for more than 8000 years. They were brought back to europe in the 16th century by the Spanish explorers.

These beans are easy to grow as long as you plant them in the late Spring after the soil has warmed up to at least 55 degrees. It helps if the daily air temperature is on the rise also. We wait to plant until late May or early June. You could plant earlier with the help of a poly tunnel or row cover over your plot. Also beware that deer like to eat bean plants. The ones that we had planted in our parking strip last year were browsed upon a couple of time. They thankfully recovered.

Runner Beans (Phaseolus coccineus) aka Scarlet Runner Bean are often grown primarily for their beautiful flowers, but the young pods and fresh seeds are eaten as well. They can grow 6 to 10 feet tall so a structure is needed to support them. A little creativity can make for a beautiful display.

Green Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) aka French, Wax, Bush, Snap, String; filet; flageolet; Haricot; Haricot vert; Kidney, black, navy, pinto, etc. Phaseolus vulgaris are the common beans that most of us are familiar with. Why are they called French beans? French Huguenot refugees first grew beans in Britain in the 1500s.

All the different names for green beans can be confusing, but it is helpful to know the basics when reading recipes, especially for French and European dishes. The french call the dried seeds, haricots, and the young pods, haricots verts. French snap bean varieties that are picked when the pods are thin are called filet beans. The pods and small immature beans are called flageolets.

In the US, we know Phaseolus vulgaris as green shell, snap, or string beans.

Wondering how to choose which type to grow? Look at seed catalogues. You'll be amazed at the array. In seed catalogues you'll find green beans divided by bush and pole varieties. Bush varieties were developed to make for easy commercial and mechanical processing. They tend to come on early and with a short harvest period which is great if you plan on canning. You need plenty of space to grow enough to process. Pole varieties need a structure to grow on and while they start producing later than bush types they keep producing throughout the growing season as long as you keep picking the pods before they mature.

Blue Lake Pole

In our kitchen garden, we've grown both bush and pole beans. We prefer pole beans because of the extended harvest and because you can grow a large quantity in a pretty small amount of space. The last two years we've grown Blue Lake pole beans, we planted way too many and were overwhelmed trying to keep up with them. We blanched and froze the extras which were not as tasty as fresh. Last year, we tried growing bush shelling beans for the first time. It was fun to just let the beans dry on the vines and collect the dried pods, shell them and put them in the jar in cupboard for our fall soups and stews.

Horto Semi-Bush

This year we are growing: Pole Beans- Fortex (Green Bean), Bingo (Dry Shelling Bean) and Blue Lake. Also, Horto Semi-Bush (Dry Shelling Bean) and Yardlong Asparagus which is not a true bean, but is Vigna sesquipedalis.

What beans are you all growing this year? Have you grown Yardlong beans before? Do they really taste like Asparagus?

About Me

I've worn many hats in the landscape horticulture industry doing everything from garden maintenance, container gardening, nursery sales, to garden design.
I'm passionate about small urban gardens and edible gardens.
My husband's stomach has played a great part in cultivating my interest in kitchen gardening. A good Southern boy, who considers himself an urban farmer, he has a passion for all things edible and has strong building, shoveling, and pest squishing skills... great assets in this endeavor.